Sudden Money is Possible, Sudden Wealth is not !

Updated on October 13, 2015

What is your top limit !

I often ask people the question “How much will make you rich?” Reactions vary: some are too confused to give an answer; they just smile and abstain from answering. Some however mention an amount which, in their opinion, is too much for them to expend.

Sometimes I am obliged to re frame the question thus; “What amount will be too much for you to expend?”

The aim of all this is to make plain that you can have a lot of money and still not be rich, the same reason why money is not the answer to poverty.

Time and the new measure of wealth !

One of the great truths that Robert Kiyosaki has revealed to the world is that being rich is not measured in terms of money amount but in terms of time or, more precisely, in terms of a relationship between the two.

A third factor actually comes into play viz “expenses” and we all seem to know this already. Fact is most people will readily define being rich as having more money than one can spend. The factor that is often left out therefore is time and that is a crucial omission.

The first import !

One immediate impact of this truth is that a man having one million units of money and another having one hundred thousand can be rich to exactly the same level if their expenses per unit of time (e.g. per month) is in exactly the same proportion as their money, that is for example two hundred thousand for the one and two thousand for the other.

Thus Mr. A. is:

1,000,000 / 200,000 = 5 months rich.

While

Mr. B. is:

100,000/ 2,000 = 5 months rich.

How many months /years rich are you?

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The second import!

A second import is that a change in any of the factors without a change in the others will alter a man’s level of richness. Let us now consider the two factors that a man can work upon:- his money volume and his expense size.

By disciplining his expenses, a man can extend the life-span of his fixed income. If we take Mr. A for example, by reducing his expenses to 150,000 per month, he extends the lifespan of his one million units of money to

1,000,000 / 150,000 = 62/3 month’s rich.

If, on the other hand, he attains an additional five hundred thousand units of income, a similar thing happens even though his expenses remain as before:

1,500,000 /200,000 = 7.5 months rich.

The third import !

The third factor is the trickiest to work on since it is not given unto man to determine his own lifespan. It attains significance in two crucial situations: when a man cannot add to his volume of money either temporarily due to illness or permanently due to old age. It is crucial wisdom for all aspiring retirees.

By the inspiration of God, man has found an answer to even this and that answer is called “passive income”. In enables you to continue to increase your volume of money even when you cannot do so through your direct physical activity. The ultimate answer to being rich in a sustained manner is to discover the secret of passive income, build it as early as possible in your lifetime and ensure that, over time, it becomes a significant fraction of your total income, if possible 100%.

Non monetary factors in wealth measuring !

B

Beyond what has gone before in this essay, however, there are other reasons why sudden wealth is not possible. One of them in already there in the factors considered but not in an obvious manner. It is the fact that other factors apply in wealth measure than the volume of money itself.

For example, if when Mr. A’s income increased to 1.5 million, his expenses also increased to 300,000 then clearly his riches remain stagnant.

1,000,000/ 300,000= 5 months

Significantly, history has revealed this reaction to be the natural propensity of man: once a man attains a higher income, he increases his expenses either consciously or unconsciously to reflect his new status. Sometimes, this is even due to social pressure. This is the main reason why money alone cannot be the answer to poverty.

Let us now consider other important factors. To be rich, a man must possess various elements of emotional intelligence. Chief amongst them should be the capacity for deferred gratification. The possession of this ability is the bulwark needed against impulsive buying. It is the defense needed to ensure that our Mr. A does not push up his expense in response to the increase in his money volume which, as we have shown, would mean more money but same level of riches. In reality some even push their expenses higher than this. Imagine that our Mr. A impulsively pushes his expense to a new level of 350,000,what happens? He becomes:

1,500,000/350,000 = 71/2 months

More money but he moves from being 10 months rich to being 71/2 months rich: more money, more poverty.

It is also important that a man should move towards being rich with an eye on his own happiness. This is subject for another day but I will only mention here that there are various ways of attaining more money and those ways include crime and immorality which can greatly detract from one’s happiness.

Finally, wealth requires management and this is not, indeed cannot be acquired overnight. This is why men typically misbehave in more ways than one when they come into possession of money in excess of their capacity to manage it.